Detective: Trio planned to hunt down more drug dealers

Three men accused of killing and dismembering a drug dealer were planning to take on higher elements in the dealer's drug chain.

Jefferey Allen, 21, Anthony Baumgartner, 23, and Stephen Harkness, 22, are charged with murder in the death of Daniel Delfin, 19.

Boone County investigators said in court Thursday that the men didn't like Delfin selling drugs in the Walton/Verona area, so Allen created a plan.

"He did not like the fact that Daniel Delfin was selling drugs in the Walton-Verona area, and that he had planned, one week prior to this, he had planned out that he was going to kill Daniel Delfin," Detective Jeremy Rosing said of Allen.

Authorities said the men set up a fake drug buy with Delfin, then kidnapped him and beat him.

"He proceeded to physically assault Daniel Delfin with his fists, choking, and with a metal bar," Rosing said.

"They actually had to stop one time on Stephenson Mill and pull him back into the car, and continue on," he said.

Rosing testified that the men tortured Delfin in an effort to get him to tell them who was supplying him with drugs. Rosing said the men intended to find those Delfin named.

"They would continue to go down the line of finding the drug dealers and assaulting them and gathering information out of them to continue to go up the ladder," Rosing said.

At some point, Rosing testified, Allen slit Delfin's throat and stabbed him in the chest with Baumgartner's knife.

The men then dismembered Delfin's body over the next few days and scattered the parts in a field near Verona and in a Dumpster behind a Florence motel, investigators said.

Authorities said Delfin was on probation after being convicted of selling heroin near Walton-Verona High School.